Virtual Regional Training: Resiliency and Coping: A Guide for Helping Families
2022-05-23 18:30 - 19:30 (America/Indiana/Indianapolis) | Region 8, GA, United States
This workshop will explore the physical mental, emotional, and behavior reactions to stress and trauma. Resiliency is the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or other significant sources of stress. Resiliency is the capacity to bounce back. Participants will also understand resilience and the six domains of resilience. By the end of the session, participants will have some practical activities to help youth build resilience skills.
*All Participants should RSVP even if you will be listening on the same device.

Strategies for Parenting in Transracial Adoption
2022-05-19 19:00 - 20:00
CLASS FULL
This presentation will provide attendees with strategies for parenting in transracial adoptions. Adoptive parents will learn ways to support their child’s development of positive racial identity and survival skills to function in a multicultural society.
PRESENTER:
ERICA SLOCUM, Regional Adoption Coordinator
State Adoption Unit/MPLD Fellow

All Participants should register separately even if you will be listening together.

REAL TALk on Core Issues in Adoption Pt. 1
2022-05-18 19:00 - 20:00 | https://gacrs.org/courses/real-talk-on-anger-2/
GACRS is offering a Monthly Virtual Adoption Support Group featuring a New Topic each month presented by a trained adoption clinician. Real Talk is a non-therapeutic conversational experience about issues relevant to adoptive families. It is not presented as a time of therapy; it is for informational purposes only.
Join Chena Blanchard in this Two-Part discussion about the Core Issues in Adoption. (Loss, Rejection, Shame/Guilt, Grief, Identity, Intimacy, & Mastery/Control) Whatever the Journey that led you to adopt you may still have some unresolved feelings. Your experiences are valid and can help others through their Journy’s. We invite you to join us to dive into some of these core issues.
Presented by: Chena Blanchard
*All Participants should RSVP separately using their own accounts.
There is no pre test for this training.

Virtual Regional Training: The Impact of Trauma on Behavior
2022-05-18 12:00 - 13:00 | Region 7, GA, United States
This virtual training is designed to provide participants information on how trauma plays a role in behavior.
All participants should RSVP separately.
Presented by:
Natasha Hope-Moriarty, LMSW

Virtual Regional Training: Setting Age-Appropriate Boundaries and Consequences
2022-05-17 19:00 - 20:30 | Region 14, GA, United States
Description:
What are Boundaries?
What are Consequences?
Why are Boundaries and Consequences
Important?
Why is it important for Boundaries and
Consequences be age appropriate?
Featuring:
Teresa Wright-Johnson Founder
Zaria’s Song and The Younger Years and Beyond
Certified Mental Health Trainer And Facilitator
*All Participants should RSVP separately even if you will be listening on the same device.

Parenting Well: Mothering Moods, Memories and Myths
2022-05-16 19:00 - 20:00 | https://gacrs.org/courses/parenting-well-post-pandemic-metal-wellness-2/
Mother’s Day is celebrated annually on the second Sunday of May. It’s a day full of love, flowers, and celebration of mothers for most. But for many, Mother’s Day can be a difficult reminder of mother loss, strained relationships, or unmet needs. This session will highlight the following:
· Complications in mothering relationships
· Reflections on being mothered and mothering; and
· Aligning the needs of mothers and the needs of children.
Parenting Well is a mental health and wellness educational and supportive space for foster, adoptive and kinship parents. Parenting Well focuses on the well-being of caregivers including their mental, emotional, and psychological health. It is not therapy but will provide psychoeducational information and strategies to help improve mental wellness.
Presented by:
Dianne Kelly, MS, LPC
All Participants should RSVP separately

Virtual Regional Training: Building Self-Esteem: Part II Pre-Adolescents and Adolescents
2022-05-12 18:30 - 20:00 | Region 1, Atlanta, GA, United States
This presentation will help caregivers understand how to engage adolescents in conversations and activities to determine current levels of self-esteem while also providing interventions for this age group filled with pre-teens and teens who are trying to “find themselves.” It will help caregivers understand how to help adolescents reset from a negative mindset to a more neutral or positive mindset.
*All Participants should RSVP separately even if they will be listening on the same device.
*Please complete the pre test prior to the training.

Webinar: Reactive Attachment Disorder and the Challenges
2022-05-05 12:00 - 13:00 | https://gacrs.org/courses/webinar-reactive-attachment-disorder-the-challenges/
Learn more about the challenges that come when a child has not been able to securely bond with a caregiver. Join us to hear Ms. Houze speak from her own experience and provide some education on supports for these families struggling to connect and build a healthy bond.
Featuring
Heather Houze, COO/Advocate

REAL TALK on Anger
2022-04-28 19:00 - 19:45 | https://gacrs.org/courses/real-talk-on-anger/
GACRS is offering a Monthly Virtual Adoption Support Group featuring a New Topic each month presented by a trained adoption clinician. Real Talk is a non-therapeutic conversational experience about issues relevant to adoptive families. It is not presented as a time of therapy; it is for informational purposes only.
Join L. Kathryn Smith in discussion about Anger. What it is, how parents see it reflected in the behavior of the children they are parenting, what their own triggers of angry feelings are, and how to express (or help someone else) express it in healthy ways
Come ready to share your experiences.
*All Participants should RSVP individually even if you will be participating on the same device.

Cafe Chat- A Parent to Parent Support Group
2022-04-28 12:00 - 13:00 | https://gacrs.org/?post_type=courses&p=17611&preview=true
Join GACRS for a monthly virtual adoption support group- Café Chats. This event is for adoptive families who share one thing, the journey of adoption. And while adoption is rewarding it also has challenges. GACRS wants to provide a virtual platform for you to exchange information and learn from one another. It’s also your opportunity to share your experiences, what’s in your heart, the challenges, and the success of parenting an adopted child or children. Please see the event calendar for specific dates of each Café Chat- An Adoption Support Event.

Webinar: A Roof Over My Head
2022-04-26 19:00 - 20:00 | https://gacrs.org/courses/webinar-a-roof-over-my-head/
A glimpse of how foster families are opening their homes to youth. With so much uncertainty in a foster child’s life, it is up to the foster parent to create an environment that allows the youth to feel safe, comfortable and accepted. This webinar will explore how there’s no set way to create a welcoming environment and how you can make subtle changes that make a big difference.
Presented by: Janae Roberts, MPH, CHES
*All Participants should RSVP separately even if they will be listening on the same device.

Virtual Regional Training: Discipline with Dignity
2022-04-25 18:30 - 19:30 | Region 11, GA, United States
Training will discuss the follow topics:

Physical punishment and how it relates to conflicts with others
Effective discipline helps the child learn self-control
Benefits of consequences as it relates to teaching responsibility
Effective discipline methods

Presented by:
Essie Sims BA Edu, M.S Edu
Specialist, Early Childhood EDU

Virtual Regional Training: Dangers of Social Media- Part 2
2022-04-25 12:00 - 13:00 | Region 9, GA, United States
This virtual training is designed to provide participants information on the dangers that social media poses to teens and young children. Part two of this training will focus on sexting and cyberbullying.
Presented by: Leslie Anderson, Adoption Resource Advisor

Virtual Regional Event: Building Self-Esteem: Part I Children from Birth to 10
2022-04-21 18:30 - 20:00 | Region 1, Atlanta, GA, United States
This presentation will focus on how to assess the level of self-esteem in the children in your care while also providing effective interventions caregivers can implement to help build a child’s self-worth and self-confidence. The goal is to provide information that can help children blossom into positive, self-assured children.

All Participants should RSVP even if they will be listening on the same device.
Complete the Pre-Test Prior to the training

Webinar: Foster Parent Grief
2022-04-14 12:00 - 13:00 | https://gacrs.org/courses/webinar-foster-parent-grief/
Grief is a natural response to loss. As foster parents, you may experience grief when a child leaves your home. You may expect this loss, but may not be prepared for the feelings of grief. You may have anticipated a foster child staying with you and even becoming a permanent part of your family, but the child is not able to stay. Your own history with loss, your relationship to the child(ren), and the nature of the separation will all affect your grief process. Many foster parents must balance their own feelings of grief while preparing and supporting the children for separation. People on the outside may see this loss as “part of the job” and not be supportive. Join us to discuss these unique feelings of loss and learn coping strategies as well as rituals to help in your healing process.
Presented by: Lane Pease Hendricks, MS, NCC
*All Participants must RSVP separately using their own accounts

Virtual Regional Training: Educational Programming, Assessment and Consultation (EPAC)
2022-04-12 12:00 - 13:00 | Region 4, Atlanta, GA, United States
Topics include:
An Overview of EPAC
ESSA – Every Student Succeeds Act
Student Support Services
Documenting Our Work
Education Advocacy
Presented by:
Makeba Dunson, M. ED
Region Educator Monitor
*All Participants should RSVP separately even if you will be participating on the same device.

Parenting Well: Post-Pandemic Mental Wellness
2022-04-05 19:00 - 20:00 | https://gacrs.org/courses/parenting-well-post-pandemic-metal-wellness/
Parenting Well is a mental health and wellness educational and supportive space for foster, adoptive and kinship parents. Parenting Well focuses on the well-being of caregivers including their mental, emotional, and psychological health. It is not therapy but will provide psychoeducational information and strategies to help improve mental wellness.
As the country moves with hope and optimism towards reopening, some may have lingering fears, anxiety and unresolved grief resulting from the past two years. This session will provide insights on how the pandemic impacted our mental health and provide strategies to achieve mental wellness in the transition to post-pandemic life.
Facilitator: Dianne Kelly, MS, LPC
Dianne Kelly is a licensed professional counselor in private practice. She has extensive professional experience in child welfare as well as personal lived experience as a parent, stepparent, and relative caregiver.
*All participants should RSVP separately even if you will be listening on the same device.

ECPAT Presents: CSAM Prevention Program Parent Workshops- A 3 Part Series
2022-04-04 19:00 - 20:00 | https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87544546266
ECPAT-USA Presents:
CSAM Prevention Program Parent Workshops
A Free, Virtual, and Interactive 3-Part Series Covering:

You and Online Safety
Managing Difficult Conversations
Utilizing the Community as a Resources

Upon Completing all 3 workshops, participants receive a $25 gift card! Provide by ECPAT. You must attend all 3 workshops to receive the gift card. Workshops are on April 4, 11, and 18th.
Be sure to RSVP by clicking RSVP and then “Finish”. All Participants must RSVP separately to qualify for the gift card. You only need to RSVP for the first event to be signed up for all 3.

Café Chat- A Parent to Parent Support Group
2022-03-24 12:00 - 13:00 | https://gacrs.org/courses/cafe-chat-a-parent-to-parent-support-group-march/
Join GACRS for a monthly virtual adoption support group, Café Chats. This group is for adoptive families who share one thing, the journey of adoption. And while adoption is rewarding it also has
challenges. GACRS wants to provide a virtual platform for you to exchange information and learn from one another. It’s also your opportunity to share your experiences, what’s in your heart, the challenges, and the success of parenting an adopted child or children.
All Participants should RSVP Separately with their separate accounts.

Real Talk on Life Books
2022-03-23 19:00 - 19:45 | https://gacrs.org/courses/real-talk-on-vicarious-secondary-trauma/
GACRS is offering a Monthly Virtual Adoption Support Group featuring a New Topic each month presented by a trained adoption clinician. Real Talk is a non-therapeutic conversational experience about issues relevant to adoptive families. It is not presented as a time of therapy; it is for informational purposes only.
Join Chena Blanchard in discussion about the importance of life books for children who have been adopted or are in long term foster care. Life books are an ongoing project to tell the story of a child’s life. They start when a child comes into care and grows as the child grows.
Come ready to share your experiences.

Webinar: Power of Positivity
2022-03-22 19:00 - 20:00 | https://gacrs.org/courses/webinar-power-of-positivity/
Positivity is a CHOICE! Being positive can save a person’s life while being negative and pessimistic can jeopardize a person’s life. Positive thinking and choosing to be positive opens up the brain and create a space for safety and creativity. There are several studies that show personality traits such as optimism and pessimism can affect many areas of our brain, health and wellbeing. Positive thinking reduces stress and decreases/eliminate negative self-talk. However, negative stress can create digestive and cardiovascular disease. This training will teach parents how to choose positivity because children learn from what they see not from what a parent say!
1. The parent will learn the power of positivity
2. The parent will learn how to be resilient in the face of adversity
3. Parents will learn how to increase their positivity.
Presented by:
Dr. Natasha LaMarr, Ed.D, LPC, NCC

All Participants should RSVP separately through their own accounts and return to their accounts to complete the post test and get their certificates.

Region 5 Mini Conference
2022-03-19 09:00 - 14:00 | Region 5, GA, United States
Agenda:

9 am- 9:15 am- Introduction GACRS
9:15 am -10:15 am- Presenter 1: Christine Dalton “Strategies to Deal with Lying”
10:15 am – 10:30 am Break
10: 30 am – 11:45 am Presenter 2: Dr. Izzard “One Family Voice”
11:45 am – 12:00 pm Break- get lunch
12 pm- 12:45 pm Resource Hour

ATEAM
Amerigroup
Easy As Pi Tutoring
RAD Advocates
Camp to Belong

12:45 pm – 1:45 pm Presenter 3: Lyresa McGriff “Grief and Loss”
1:45 pm Wrap Up

Survey

All Participants MUST RSVP separately using their separate accounts

Webinar: One Family Voice
2022-03-18 12:00 - 13:00 | https://gacrs.org/courses/virtual-regional-training-one-family-voice-2/
*All Participants should RSVP Separately.
Improving the lives of Family, children and adolescents experiencing mental health conditions can be accomplished through advocacy at all government levels and assisted by community involvement. Legislators are often unaware of children’s mental health issues and what families really experience. Learning how to share you and your child’s lived experience can make a major difference in the direction of change for children’s mental health policy. Participants will gain an understanding of Advocacy, the 7 steps to tell your story, organizations that advocate, and gain knowledge on how to search for legislators.
Presented by:
Dr. Lakliesha Izzard,
Ed.D, LPC, NCC,ACS
Shekinah Counseling
Author, Professor

Virtual Regional Training: Helping your Child Heal Pt. 2
2022-03-15 18:30 - 19:30 | Region 10, GA, United States
*All Participants must RSVP separately even if they will be watching on the same device
Training will discuss the follow topics:
*Strategies for Building Resiliency
*Understanding Adverse Childhood Experiences
*Trauma– sensitive practices
*Learning strategies to counteract the effects through
utilizing resiliency factors
Presented by:
LaTanya Keaton, LPC
Mental Health Therapist

Virtual Regional Training: The Dangers of Social Media
2022-03-14 12:00 - 13:00 | Region 7, GA, United States
This virtual training is designed to provide participants information on the dangers that social media poses to teens and young children. Participants will be given information on those dangers as well as tips and tools to monitor their children’s internet usage.

All participants should RSVP Individually, even if you will be listening on the same device.

Presented by:
Leslie Anderson
Adoption Resource Advisor

Virtual Regional Training: Post Adoption Service—ATEAM Adopted Teen Empowerment and Mentoring Program
2022-03-10 19:00 - 20:30 | Region 6, GA, United States
Description: The ATEAM provides participants with an opportunity for mutual support and self-expression through group interactions with other adopted teens.
Please join us and learn more about the ATEAM.

All Participants should RSVP separately for all trainings even if you will be participating together

Presented by:
Ami Taharka, MS and
Letitia Robinson, MSW, MPA
ATEAM Site
Coordinators
Please complete the Pre Test prior to the training.

Virtual Regional Training: Understanding Post Traumatic Disorder Part 2
2022-02-28 12:00 - 13:00 | https://gacrs.org/courses/virtual-regional-training-understanding-post-traumatic-disorder-part-2/
This virtual training is designed to provide participants information on Post Traumatic Disorder (PTSD). This is a follow up training to the one offered on January 24th .
Part two will provide information to participants on how PTSD plays a role in children’s behavior and what treatment options are available.

All Participants should RSVP separately using their separate accounts.

Presented by: Tiffany Luke, LPC

Webinar: How and Why to Communicate with Parties and the Court
2022-02-24 19:00 - 20:00 | https://gacrs.org/courses/webinar-how-and-why-to-communicate-with-parties-and-the-court/
It feels like I am forever being asked why a person or family with an interest in a child, like a foster parent, doesn’t know about a court date; or isn’t asked about how the child is doing in their home; or isn’t informed about changes in the child’s life, including even a change in placement. Join to learn how to advocate for yourself and the child and get a road map and tips on How and Why to Communicate with Parties and the Court.
Presented by: Ashley Willcott
J.D., Certified Child Welfare Law Specialist
Top Legal Analyst, Consultant, Juvenile Court Judge &Trial Attorney

REAL TALK on Reactive Attachment Disorder
2022-02-23 19:00 - 19:45 | https://gacrs.org/courses/real-talk-on-reactive-attachment-disorder-with-chena-blanchard/
GACRS is offering a Monthly Virtual Adoption Support Group featuring a New Topic each month presented by a trained adoption clinician. Real Talk is a non-therapeutic conversational experience about issues relevant to adoptive families. It is not presented as a time of therapy; it is for informational purposes only.
Join Chena Blanchard, LCSW, in conversation about Reactive Attachment Disorder or RAD.
Reactive Attachment Disorder is a rare but serious condition in which an infant or young child doesn’t establish healthy attachments with a parent or caregivers.
Let’s discuss our individual experiences and challenges and help each other find ways to help children. that are struggling to connect to a parent or caregiver.

Cafe Chat: A Parent to Parent Support Group
2022-02-17 12:00 - 13:00 | https://gacrs.org/courses/cafe-chats-a-virtual-parent-to-parent-support-group-2/
